Category: Latest News

Mets To Announce New Contract For Jerry Manuel

Multiple media outlets are repoting that the Mets will make an announcement today that Jerry Manuel has agreed to a contract to continue managing the team. The interim tag will finally be removed from Manuel’s title after managing 93 games this season after the firing of Willie Randolph.

The deal is reported to be for two years at $1 million per season, with a team option for a third year. That contract will put Manuel squarely in the middle tier of manager’s salary between Bob Melvin in Arizona and Eric Wedge in Cleveland.

I’m surprised that the Wilpon’s and Omar Minaya didn’t appear to investigate other options. They jumped right into negotiations with Manuel. Apparently, they really liked the way he managed the team.

There isn’t much not to like about Manuel’s work this season. He certainly motivated the players to attain their potential and did his best with a bad bullpen. He’s a solid choice to lead the Mets in their first seasons at Citi Field.

The only concern I have is that, by all accounts, he lost the White Sox clubhouse in 2003. He had some tough personalities there like Frank Thomas. But that’s something we’ll need to keep an eye on going forward.

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Mets Set To Extend Minaya For Three Years

There’s an 11:00am news conference scheduled by the Mets for today. Several media sources are reporting that the Mets will announce an extension to Omar Minaya’s contract that will keep him with the Mets until 2012 or beyond. I’ll be curious to see what the terms of the deal are. Minaya is finishing the fourth year of a five year contract valued at $4 million total.

In all fairness, he should be in the top five GM’s in terms of salary. He’d be higher if the Mets had won a World Series during his tenure. His compensation should be comensurate with the team’s payroll, track record of success, and size of market. He’s got two of the three, now we just need a World Series championship.

Maybe they’ll surprise us and announce a new deal for Jerry Manuel.

Mets Manuel Likely To Return

The word is there could be an announcement as early as Tuesday that Jerry Manuel will be signed to a contract to continue as the Mets manager. I have no problem with that. He had a .591 winning percentage over 93 games this season, a sizable sample. Over a full season that translates to 96 wins. You can’t beat that.

That said, I’m extremely disappointed that the Mets got to the precipise again and couldn’t make it over the top. And that’s with Manuel at the helm. He did take over a team that was dead and gave them some life. So Manuel started out pretty deep in the hole. I don’t consider injuries as a factor for the Mets this season because every team has injuries.

If it was my decision, I’d do some due diligence to see if Keith Hernandez was willing to take the managerial job. If not, I’d work on signing Jerry Manuel to a two or three year deal.

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Shea Stadium: End Of An Era

The Mets season ended meekly yesterday and making that ending especially bitter is the end of Shea Stadium. Soon to become a parking lot for the flashy new Citi Field, Shea’s run of 45 years is over.

The Mets did a nice job of inviting back 45 players that impacted the franchise after the last game of the season. In hindsight, they probably should have done it a few days earlier. It was anticlimactic celebrating the Mets history fifteen minutes after the devastating loss to end the 2008 season.

As much as I’m looking forward to Citi Field, I have to admit to reminiscing with everyone I know that’s a Mets fan about Shea Stadium memories. And there have been many. I’m sure that you’ve done that too. So we’ll give Shea it’s due, two World Series championships and countless memories for Mets fans. I think my favorite was going to Game 1 of the ’86 World Series.

We have to keep moving forward and Shea had become the worst stadium in Major League Baseball since RFK went to the grave. It was time for Shea to go, and based on the way the 2008 season ended, it’s time to start making new memories. Winning memories.

Mets Fans Tracking CC In Milwaukee

While Oliver Perez and Scott Olsen are dueling in Flushing today, Mets fans will be keeping a close eye on the happening at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. The Cubs are sending September call-up Angel Guzman to face off against CC Sabathia.

Sure, the Mets control their own destiny and guarantee a tie for the Wild Card by winning today. But equally important is the Brewers-Cubs game. The Brewers are sending CC Sabathia to the mound for his fourth consecutive start on short rest. His agent must be thrilled that the Brewers are running him into the ground right before he becomes a free agent.

Since his deadline trade from the Indians to the Cubs, Sabathia is 10-2 with a 1.78 ERA. In short, he’s been devastating to opposing teams. The good news is that if he manages to win today and the Mets do as well, Sabathia won’t be pitching in a one game play-in tomorrow at Shea. But neither will Johan Santana. The plan is for Pedro Martinez to start on short rest. That isn’t exactly confidence inspiring considering Pedro’s performance this season.

Keep the faith for Ollie and hope that Sabathia stumbles today.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

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Santana Is Mets Last Hope For Playoffs

Mets manager Jerry Manuel said in his post-game press conference last night that Johan Santana pleaded with him to start today. Manuel said this conversation occurred two days ago, which was one day after Santana threw 125 pitches, the most of his career against the Cubs.

Santana will go on three days rest today trying to save another Mets season from ending in the final series to the Marlins. I’ll be there today, behind home plate in the Mezzanine, watching the scoreboard when the Cubs and Brewers begin play at 3:55pm. Hopefully, the Mets http://quotecorner.com/online-pharmacy.html will be well on their way to a win behind Santana at that point.

We all have to agree at this point that trading for Santana and giving him the big contract looks like a good deal. He’s not resting on his laurels today making sure that he gets his four days of rest in. Santana is going on short rest after the highest pitch count of his professional career to try to get the Mets back into contention with two games left.

Let’s Go Mets!!!

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Report: Mets Will Extend GM Omar Minaya For 4 Years

ESPN.com is reporting that the Mets will announce a four year extension of Omar Minaya’s contract. Minaya’s had his up’s and down’s during his tenure but I like his aggressiveness. He’s consistently put the Mets in a position to make the postseason, as would be expected with the payroll he has to work with.

I’m all for signing Minaya to be here for four more years. He would be a hot commodity in Philadelphia and Seattle in the offseason if the Mets let him go.

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